This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for treating skin injuries or other superficial wounds. Autologous blood components may be frozen in a plurality of individual doses. Each dose can subsequently be applied in frozen form to treat skin injuries.
Healing injuries involves a complex series of events where proteins in the blood called growth factors are released to signal for the healing process to begin. Many growth factors are derived from small blood cells called platelets. Increased growth factor levels improve the recruitment of cells to an injury site and optimize the environment for healing. Accordingly, autologous blood components that are derived from the patient, such as platelet rich plasma, have been used in various surgical procedures to provide a concentrated level of beneficial growth factors at the point of care.